The present invention relates generally to the field of fishing hooks and more particularly to a fishing hook adapted for utilization as a trailer or stinger hook.
It is known that fish will often strike short when striking at a baited hook or other fishing lure. In other words, the fish will often strike toward the rearward or trailing end of the baited hook or fishing lure rather than at its leading end. As a result, the fish is often missed because the hook portion does not extend completely to the rearward end of the lure or the bait. To counteract this tendency of fish to strike short and thus in many cases miss the hook portion of the lure, fishermen will often use what is known as a trailer or stinger hook. A trailer hook is simply a second hook whose eyelet portion has been slipped over the hook end of the primary or bait hook. By doing this, the hook portion of the trailer hook is disposed near the rearward end of the lure to provide the fisherman with a better chance of catching the fish which strikes short. A stinger hook serves a similar purpose except that it is connected directly to the shank portion of the primary hook by wrapping or the like.
Presently, fishermen use conventional fish hooks as trailer hooks by slipping the eyelet portion of such hook over the hook end of the primary or bait hook. To prevent this trailer hook from inadvertently slipping off the primary hook during casting or when a strike occurs, a short plastic tubular element referred to as a keeper is slipped onto the primary hook after the trailer hook. The keeper is precluded from removal from the primary hook by the primary hook barb. This in turn prevents the trailer hook from inadvertently slipping off the primary hook. One of the disadvantages of the above described prior system is that a keeper can only be used once since each time it is slipped over the barbed end of the primary hook, it cannot be removed without destroying the same. Secondly, the trailer hook which is mounted onto the primary hook in this manner, is allowed to hang free with respect to the primary or bait hook; thus, there is no way to align the primary and trailer hooks. Such a feature is highly desirable. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved fish hook adapted for use as a trailer hook which overcomes the above-mentioned deficiencies.